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Who are Ferguson's 'Oath Keepers,' and why are they patrolling the city with guns?

On the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown's shooting death by police, tensions are once again simmering in Ferguson, Missouri. And the arrival of a militia group, known as the "Oath Keepers," threatens to add fuel to the fire in the St. Louis suburb.

Founded by a former Army paratrooper and Yale instructor named Stewart Rhodes in 2009, the Oath Keepers's self-described mission is to "defend the Constitution." To that end, the group publishes a list of 10 "unconstitutional orders" which its members must pledge not to follow, including taking part in warrantless searches, detaining Americans or seizing citizens' weapons.

The Oath Keepers came to Ferguson during last year's unrest and the group returned this week ostensibly to keep watch over protests commemorating the one-year anniversary of Brown's death.

But the group's paramilitary style — members have been photographed perching on rooftops and outfitted with military fatigues and assault rifles — has created concern among local residents and police that the group's presence will just escalate an already fraught situation.

Heavily armed civilians with a group known as the Oath Keepers arrive in Ferguson, Mo., early Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015.

Image: Jeff Roberson/Associated Press

"They're pouring fuel on the fire of a very tense situation and doing absolutely zero to improve the situation or help anyone," said Mark Potoc, senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups.

Jon Belmar, the St. Louis County police chief, said the Oath Keepers' presence was "both unnecessary and inflammatory."

Patricia Bynes, a Democratic commiteewoman from Ferguson, said "there really was no need" for the Oath Keepers' presence. "They just showed up, walking around carrying their assault rifles."

The group did not respond to requests for an interview.

Oath Keepers founder and president Stewart Rhodes speaks during a gun rights rally at the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford Conn. on Saturday April 20, 2013.

Image: Jared Ramsdell/Associated Press

Rhodes, who reportedly volunteered with former Congressman Ron Paul's 2008 presidential campaign and who has donated $1,000 to the libertarian candidate, according to campaign records, has said in the past that it was the confiscation of weapons after Hurricane Katrina that inspired him to form the Oath Keepers and that he feared that another natural disaster or a terrorist attack could send the nation into a state of martial law.

The size of the group is unknown as it has declined to reveal a specific figure in the past. But while its official message board boasts more than 21,000 users, just over 2,000 are considered "active." On social media channels, Stewart's Twitter followers total just under 600, but more than 300,000 users have liked the group's Facebook page.

Technically, the group is a non-profit organization — at least in Nevada where it is headquartered. But the organization "intentionally did not seek IRS non-profit status," Rhodes wrote on the group's website.

"We don't want the IRS to have any grounds for trying to tell us what we can and cannot say or do."

Foregoing tax-exempt status with the IRS does free the group from federal oversight over, say, political activity. But it also means the group doesn't need to file a Form 990, a public document that shows how federally-recognized nonprofits manage their money.

On the surface, its list of concerns "reads much like a list of concerns from the American Civil Liberties Union," wrote journalist Radley Balko in 2011. They worry, for example, about warrentless searches, executive overreach, detention without due process, and stifling of political speech and the right to protest. They even support Edward Snowden, the ex-NSA contractor who helped to reveal the U.S. government's sprawling surveillance apparatus.

A pro-Snowden billboard bought by the Oath Keepers in Washington, D.C., in 2013.

But the Oath Keepers are more libertarian than liberal and "their ranks are filled with Birthers, Truthers and others who see black helicopters lurking at every turn," wrote Mother Jones' Stephanie Mencimer in 2013. Its members were once "staples at tea party and Second Amendment rallies," and have drawn criticism from groups on the left, such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, which once called the group "a particularly worrisome example of the Patriot revival."

"You would think if these guys were such great defenders of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, they might actually be defending some of the people who have been shot and killed by police," said Potoc, the SPLC fellow. "But that's not what Stewart Rhodes and his pals are all aboutThey're simply there to look like big scary people with large guns."

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